Основы теории английского языка. Листунова Е.И. - 139 стр.

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              TOEFL READING COMPREHENSION
        CIRCLE THE LETTER OF THE CORRECT ANSWER
                    TO EACH QUESTION


                          QUESTIONS 1—9
      Spiders produce three basic types of webs. The sheet web is a two-
dimensional layer of threads seemingly laid out at random. The space
web is a three-dimensional, wispy structure. The orb web, by far the
most Line familiar, is the two-dimensional cartwheel pattern.
      Of the 30,000 spider species, some 6,000 are orb spinners. For
three decades Dr. Peter N. Witt has studied orb spinners, especially a
species called Areneiis diadematus, and their webs. Witt is a German-
born medical doctor and self-taught arachnologist, whose passion is
to understand the ways of spiders. Witt has delved deeply into the
behavior of spiders and and vastly expanded our knowledge about orb
spinners and their webs. Some of his findings have even amazed
other arachnologists.
      «We have actually compared human building activities to spider
building, and we find an enormous amount of parallel between the
two,» Witt says. For one thing, just like their human counterparts in
the building trades, orb spinners erect a form of removable scaffolding
as they weave their webs.
      Orb spinners are solitary creatures who dwell one to a web. The
web is home, food source, and mating ground, and it is guarded
aggressively. When amale arrives at mating time, the courtshi p ritual
is an intricate set of advances and retreats until the female is finally
won over and no longer tries to kill her would-be lover.
      Orb spinners each weave a new web every day, working in the
predawn darkness and executing the distinctive pattern of concentric
circles and radial lines in a half hour or less. «There is nothing as
important as web building, because without the web there is no food,»
Witt says.




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